My mother asked me to bring a particular brand of yogurt with me when I fly home next week. She likes the flavor of it but it’s not available in her area, so she wants to try culturing it. If I put the plastic tub in my carry-on bag, what will happen when the bag is x-rayed? Will that kill the active yogurt cultures?
No. Airport X-Ray machines are barely strong enough to fog film, much less kill bacteria.
I don’t mean to hijack, but I’ve never had yogurt, so I’m a little confused - doesn’t the difference in flavor between brands come more from fruits or other artificial additives, not from the culture? Aren’t the same bacteria (Streptococcus salivarius and Lactobacillus bulgaricus) used throughout the industry?
Well, there’s yogurt and then there’s yogurt. Saying all yogurt tastes the same because it uses the same bacteria is like saying all cheese tastes the same because it all uses rennet.
It’s true that big brand name American yogurts are so highly processed that most of the flavor does come from the additives. But that’s not true for all yogurts and it’s pretty easy to taste the difference between brands that actually try to make yogurt and not sugared milk.